Infiniti to manufacture the QX30 crossover in Great Britain

Nissan’s Infiniti luxury brand looks set to extend its manufacturing presence in Europe, with the brand’s chief disclosing the UK factory would build not one, but two models.

The yet to be released Infiniti Q30 hatchback was already in the books for British production for worldwide exports, and now Infiniti’s Chairman Andy Palmer also adds the QX30 compact SUV to the production roster.

The brand’s boss added that initially the UK manufacturing facility would start churning out of its production lines the all important Q30 compact model, starting with mid-2015, while the new crossover model would follow closely. The Sunderland factory – owned by Nissan – Great Britain’s largest automotive production facility, is now in the process of further adding production capacity to cater for the projected 60,000 annual targets of both cars.

“We plan to supply the Q30 and QX30 globally from Sunderland including to the United States and China,” Palmer said. “We are using Mercedes’ MFA vehicle architecture, as well as their 2.0-liter gasoline and diesel engines,” he added.

Both models would be technically related to Mercedes-Benz’s newly developed front wheel drive platform, which already underpins the A and GLA Class compacts – one a hatchback (mirrored by the Q30) and the other one a small crossover (mirrored by the future QX30).